


Earn It

by softestlad



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Affair Era Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden, Affair era, Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Light Angst, M/M, Mentioned Aaron Dingle, Mother-Son Relationship, Other, chas is protective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 04:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18175826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softestlad/pseuds/softestlad
Summary: Robert and Chas argue about Aaron. Again.Affair era fic.





	Earn It

Chas got up in Robert’s face, exploding in a flurry of accusing jabs, voice loud and piercing.

“Why can’t you just stay away from him? You can’t tell me he’s not all that irresistible and then completely fail to resist him!”

“Why do you always talk like its just me in this? Aaron’s an adult, he makes his own decisions.”

“I know that!” Chas snarled, “Of course I know that. But he is still young, not that that fact has stopped him from being kicked in the teeth more times – “

“Everyone gets kicked in the teeth, Chas, that’s life,” Robert pointed out, arms wide in his own gestures. Chas was lucky Nicola or Lawrence weren’t in the office, when she stormed in shouting the odds. He was getting sick of having this fight over and over, wished he could just go back to when it was only him and Aaron that knew, when everything was easy and fun and he hadn’t actually cared about him. Though to be fair, Robert couldn’t really pinpoint when exactly that was.

But it was definitely before he got his set of illicit in-laws on top of the one who was trigger happy with the palpitations.

“Except this time it’s not life kicking him in the teeth, is it?” Chas stepped back, as if she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold back a slap otherwise. “It’s you.”

“I never promised him anything.”

“Is this where you tell me you love Chrissie, because that’s getting old, Robert.”

“All of this is getting old, Chas, why can’t you just butt out?” Chas’ mouth twisted and Robert cut her off before she could send her next barb his way. “Oh wait, it’s because you’re guilty.”

“You what?”

“You left him,” Robert said. He said something similar every time he had this conversation with Chas, couldn’t help but twist the knife. She never seemed to get used to it. Every time, a twitch below her eye, the corners of her mouth turning down in the same way Aaron did when he was pretending he wasn’t bothered by something. She would flinch. Every time.

“You think I don’t know that!” Chas hair swished, bristling up around her like she was an angry cat. Her eyes were fierce, and Robert felt a pang at the mother’s love that was in the room and that he had no claim to. “You think I don’t wake up every damn morning and hope that I can put the day towards making things up to my son? We worked hard – the both of us – to fix what I broke. But he knows now,” Chas pointed at him, “and you can’t take it away from us no matter how many times you bring it up. He knows I love him, I love the bones of that boy, I’d kill and die for him. And he loves me too, and some days I even feel like I’ve earned it!”

Chas stood in the ringing quiet, lip wobbling. Robert watched something drain out of her. It put a lump in his throat to see it, unexpectedly. He didn’t particularly care about Chas, but it seemed wrong somehow. To see a Dingle lose their fight.

Chas rocked on her heels, lifting her trembling hands. She wiped down her face, like she could erase the frustration, maybe erase Robert if she just removed him from her line of sight. Robert shifted on his feet. He prided himself on being a quick thinker, fast adapting, a survivor and tactician. He had no idea what to do, not with his secret lover’s mother standing in front of him. Crying.

Her voice was broken when she spoke. Quiet in a way he had never heard. He blinked, heart dropping. She sounded like Aaron. “Why can’t you just love my boy the way he deserves?” she asked, not accusing, as he was used to. Genuinely. She wanted to know. He could tell she just wanted to know why her beautiful boy could only seem to love fiercely the people who only loved him back in half measures.

Robert didn’t speak. He couldn’t. Chas wiped her eyes impatiently, smearing mascara along her waterlines. She pressed her lips together, firmly, collecting herself.

“I have told you, to stay away from him,” Chas said, calmly. “I’ve asked you. I’ve yelled and screamed it at you.” She looked at him, square in the eyes. Robert liked being looked at, liked knowing he looked good, and what that could get him. The way Chas looked at him made him want to hide, made him feel uncomfortably seen. Like she could tell he was just a little boy in a nice suit, that his reflection was just as substantial as he was.

“Robert,” she said. He met her eyes. “Now I’m begging you. Please. Leave Aaron alone.” The door closed upstairs. Chrissie was home. Neither of them looked towards the sound, but Chas breathed out, a final prayer on her lips. “He deserves more than what you give him. It hurts him to be a secret, he’s done his time of not being who he is. You need to stop hurting him like this,” she looked away finally, and Robert hadn’t even let out a breath of relief before she had snatched it away.

“Don’t put my son back in that garage, Robert.” She shoved her hands in her pockets, starting to move to the office’s door. Distantly, Robert could hear Chrissie’s shoes approaching, the _click-clack_ like a ticking clock. Chas opened the door quietly, and slipped out, the only evidence she was there the shudder in Robert’s chest, and the ache of knowing he couldn’t do what she asked.

He was selfish. It had been said.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaron and Chas' relationship is so important to me, and I'm rewatching the affair era so this was bound to happen wasn't it.


End file.
